Well, we’ve seen all that the P4I875P DRAGON 2 “Platinum Edition” has to offer, and as usual it is now time to round it all up into a nice summary and call it a day. Let’s start off with the usual topic of overall system stability. The overall stability of the system was very good with zero crashes throughout stress testing and our use with the board. As is the norm for our stress tests, I have been running multiple distributed computing programs in the background while gaming and taking part in other processor intensive applications for several days non-stop and have had no crashes, glitches, or twitches. Overall, the P4I875P DRAGON 2 “Platinum Edition” performed very stably and gave us no problems.

Overall, the layout of the P4I875P DRAGON 2 “Platinum Edition” is extremely clean and well organized. I’d go far enough to say that it puts itself in contention with the best boards that have ever entered our hands when it comes to the layout. Taking into consideration the healthy amount of features that are offered by the P4I875P DRAGON 2 “Platinum Edition”, it only becomes more impressive a feat to have such an organized layout. If there’s one thing that I would like to see changed, it is that I would prefer to see Soyo implement a form of active cooling on the Northbridge, rather than a passive Aluminum heatsink. Granted, this heatsink will do the job fine, but it is always pleasurable to have a fan helping to cool off the heatsink, especially in overclocking situations. On a more aesthetic aspect, I would like to see a board such as this come with the usual silver PCB, but instead have all of the onboard headers and connections be black. This is of course, merely personal preference. This board is a real beauty, and could be even better.

The P4I875P DRAGON 2 “Platinum Edition” does come along with a very nice feature set, although it doesn’t quite compare to some of the other motherboards that we have worked with in the past. Soyo’s inclusion of their Sigma Box is a very nice feature, bringing access to IEEE1394 and USB 2.0 ports to the front of the computer, along with other aspects such as the smart card reader. I would like to see possibly an additional rear bracket included in the package for additional USB 2.0 / IEEE1394 ports. We have also begun to see more manufacturers adding in large stickers outlining the motherboard that can be affixed to an interior case wall, or floor, for the user to glance at if ever needed. Something like this being included would also only serve to aid the excellent package of the Soyo P4I875P DRAGON 2 “Platinum Edition.” The P4I875P DRAGON 2 “Platinum Edition” is currently running for roughly $190.00 USD, a good price in comparison to other high-end i875P based motherboards, all things considered.

The BIOS that comes along with the Soyo P4I875P DRAGON 2 “Platinum Edition” is what I was expecting. I would have preferred to see a little more memory timing tweaks available, but given the three system performance settings, this is already addressed, just not by the individual user. The overclocking options and system voltages provided are robust enough for any user to take their chip to the max, especially given the available DRAM voltages. Since users will be limited to overclocking via the FSB, it only makes sense to offer higher DRAM voltages to get every last MHz out of your RAM. Although I personally very much like the Soyo Combo menu and it’s re-location of the main settings that a user would adjust, it still makes things appear scattered, and might cause some confusion for those who are unfamiliar with such a BIOS layout.

Overall, the Soyo P4I875P DRAGON 2 “Platinum Edition” is an excellent motherboard. It is clear that an immense amount of thought went into the overall design of the motherboard, and it paid off. The design of the P4I875P DRAGON 2 “Platinum Edition” is one of the best that has ever entered our presence, and could quite possibly contend for the best design we’ve seen up to this point. The color scheme of the board is nice, with the silver PCB, although I’d prefer to see all black connectors, but that is just a personal preference. Case modding fans will enjoy the added color of the P4I875P DRAGON 2 “Platinum Edition”, especially those like me with a silver case, it just adds to the flavor when lit up with a cold cathode or two. The feature set and package that comes along with the P4I875P DRAGON 2 “Platinum Edition” easily qualifies as high quality, although there are a few tidbits that I would’ve liked to see added. The BIOS could seem puzzling to many users at first due to the unique layout of several of the main options. I do like the fact that Soyo placed nearly all of the major options in one menu although if a novice first timer came into this BIOS with little experience, it could be confusing. The performance of the board was on par, or better than that of our GA-8KNXP, but still fell well short of the D875PBZ in most tests. The best part about this board, for me, would have to be the overclocking capabilities. I was able to run up to roughly 1110MHz FSB, and above. The only limiting factor keeping me from achieving an even better overclock was the limitation of my memory. The P4I875P DRAGON 2 “Platinum Edition” offers several voltage options within the BIOS and memory voltages up to 2.9v. Needless to say, with results like these the P4I875P DRAGON 2 “Platinum Edition” could easily become a fan favorite for overclockers. If you’re in the market for a feature packed motherboard offering excellent stability, good performance, and excellent overclocking capabilities, make sure to take a look at this motherboard, it could be exactly what you’re looking for. I’d like to thank Soyo for all their help in supplying the motherboard for review, and thanks to all of you for reading! We hope to see you dropping by our website and forums in the future!